This oped was published in a weekly in NE Alabama whose Publisher is the 4th son of the pastor ofCollinsville Baptist Church. The pastor has a weekly faith column in the paper. He and his wife are anti abortion disciples of Francis Schaeffer.

They have three others sons, publisher Joseph Morgan's three brothers. Two of them went to UVA and one on the Yale Div where he studied with Randall Balmer and Miroslav Volf. Another to Duke where he befriended Will Willimon.

Joseph champions St Senator Phil Williams, elected on a bleaching strategy statewide to lessen the poltical power of blacks and Hispanics.

Yet the three brothers are apparently struck mute about the insidious politics of their Brother and FAther.

Tends to make me a little cynical in the community where My Mothers family goes back to 1841

And Mark Wilson's Auburn University Living Democracy has been in the community for four years.

Its pretty much lights out for the Progressive Baptist witness in NE Alabama and many pockets all over the Southeast.

New Covenant and many aspects of the Progressive Baptist movement are seen as elitist by otherwise good people.

Among the many challenges Covenant faces is further unintended alienation of poor and marginal white people.

Appalachia's Vance who sometimes writes for the National Review but has strong reservations about Donald Trump opens up that conversation about a part of the country that birthed George W Truett among others

Cliff Simms is hardwired to the 14 campuses of greater Bham's Church of the Highlands, Church at BrookHills wich sent its recent pastor to CEO of SBC IMB, FBC Gardendale, Rick Burgess of kudzu blanket talk radio and all kinds of SBC weekend conferences etc et. al ad nauseam